Arizona
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Base savers pitching state
By Carol Ann Alaimo
August 20, 2003
More fighter jets. More choppers and drones. And thousands more people
in military fatigues.
Tucson and Southern Arizona could be in for a big military boom if state
and local officials succeed in keeping the area's bases from closing.
That's because base savers aren't just trying to keep existing bases
open: They'll also be pitching Arizona to the Pentagon as a perfect
place for major expansions of military operations.
About one-quarter of U.S. military installations will be shut down in
the next round of base closings in 2005, and some of the work now being
done there will be moved to the bases that escape the ax, officials
heard Tuesday when Gov. Janet Napolitano's military facilities task
force came to Tucson.
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base could add up to five more squadrons of
military aircraft on top of the eight there now, and the Army's Fort
Huachuca in Sierra Vista could accommodate up to 10,000 more military
personnel, though the numbers are tentative at this point, task force
officials said.
"The installations that can grow are the ones that will survive," said
Thomas Finnegan of Sierra Vista, head of the Fort Huachuca 50, a
preservation group dedicated to saving the Army post that is home to a
military intelligence school, high-tech communications units and
training for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones.
Finnegan also is a member of the governor's task force looking at the
long-term prospects for Arizona's bases. He said Pentagon staffers who
visited Fort Huachuca a while back stressed that growing room would be a
big factor in deciding which bases to leave open.
This article can be viewed at:
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/wed/30820MILITARYGROWTH.html
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